Monday, February 18, 2008

Students expose massive rigging 19 students from the student action committeevisited 14 polling stations in various constituencies. They uncovered massive riggings in most of these polling stations. Some of teh most common forms were altered voters list. Reportedly new lists were issued the night before, and hence the parties booths had voters lists different to those within the polling stations. Dozens of opposition party supporters were excluded from these new altered lists and hence were simply unable to vote.We also found instances of duplicate votes, where teh actual voter was turned away due to a vote already being cast. There were many incidences of coerced an bought votes by the establishment party. Most of these incidences were caught on camera or recorded on audio, including eye-witness accounts and victim's testimonies.

I was lucky enough to visit two very different polling stations today, clearly showing the inherent classism and divisions in Karachi (Pakistani) society today.

I first went to my polling station in Bath Island, NA-250 with my family and was really impressed by the arrangments. Policemen politely guided us to the right section, where I had to stand in a proper line for about 10 minutes before the first person checked my name on a clear voter's list. He read my N.I.C # out loud and this was confirmed by 3 officials in one corner of the room. My father's and my brothers name were clearly visible on the voter list as well. He put the black mark on my right thumb and asked me to proceed to the next table where two people responsible for handing out the National & Provincial balloting papers were sitting. After marking my candidates, I folded the balloting papers and asked the official if i had done them correctly, dropped them into the boxes and left happily. Maybe one reason for this order was because a European photographer was roaming around the polling station with a BBC Urdu crew.

Cowasjee was present in the room and was being interviewed by BBC. As always he commented, 'Hona kia hay, salaa phir wohi ghundaa logh aaye gah!' hahahahaha

The other polling station I visited was in Malir Halt, opposite to the airport, NA-256. This is a core MQM area and rigging is expected here. I dropped my grandmother and mother to the ladies polling area and this is what they've told me: 'There were only 3 - 4 women standing in a line to go through the voting process (including my grandmother and mother) while the room was filled with nearly a dozen women, who were just standing around laughing and chatting. The tables were in a mess and no one was really bothering to mark the thumb, checking the voting list or even confirming the N.I.C #. Amazingly, women were being ASKED to put stamp the 'kite' section while the cardboard screen was lying on the corner, facing the wrong way! My mother was furious and told the ladies there to give my grandmother some room so she could use the cardboard area. When they were dropping the balloting papers in the boxes, two random women were staring hard to see what she had stamped.In the men's section, there was a huge crowd of MQM boys standing around with flags, looking really agitated and waiting for something to happen. (This is around 3 p.m.) I asked one of them, 'what's the scene? Is someone coming here?' He laughed and answered, 'Voting is about to begin!'My grandmother's chowkidaar went to vote to the same polling station a little later and came back really sad, since he wasn't even able to fulfill his right! He told me that the MQM boys were busy blatantly stamping the remaining balloting papers. When he asked the officials where to go for voting one told him to go to the next building of the school and when he went there, he was told to go back to the first one. After going around for 20 minutes he gave up and came back home. We all know how competitive NA-256 is going to be....

Meanwhile...PML-Q people in Faisalabad have offered a 'bicycle' for anyone who brings 10 votes, a 'motorbike' for 50 votes and a 'mehran' for 100 votes! A friend's friend (working for an independent candidate) was so happy from the news, that he was able to round up 40 votes the last i heard. His logic was that 50 votes will not make the king's party win since Nawaz league is steamrolling them in Faisalabad, so why not take advantage of the situation? I completely agree! You know, the PML-Q really knows how to cater to the needy :-)

Members of the Student Action Committee had planned to hold mock elections in front of the Lahore High Court, reaching there early morning the police prevented them to setup camp but they instead continued the mock elections at another location. The turnout was massive with over 812 voters.

A voter an account of her first experience voting. The sense of disillusion one feels after voting explains why most people dont bother voting.

Dhandli at polling station:

The dhandli I witnessed in the five minutes it took me to cast my first Pakistani vote was beyond even what a cynical person like myself could have imagined. I laughed in the face of its blatant-ness and had many who joined in, albeit, for entirely different reasons.

As we walked in, my NIC number was recorded on the left stub of my vote, and I was handed a sheet that had already been torn out from the book, so the vote I cast wasn't the one that corresponded with my NIC number. I don't know if that matters, but when I asked about thediscrepancy, I was told it did not.

Then came the coercion (in a slightly intimidating way, if that makes any sense) to stamp the 'Patang'. The woman voting before us, asked where she could vote? She was told, 'right here on the table', but she asked for privacy and was shown the flimsy cardboard screen.

While waiting my turn to stamp my vote, I saw one of the two women, who had made themselves comfortable enough in the room, get up and proceeded to stamp four white ballot papers in quick succession, before adding them in to the transparent ballot box for the provincialassembly. Her associate then did the same. I gaped in complete disbelief, and asked who the votes were from, and the presiding officer who was seated right in front of the ballot box, laughed and said, 'yeh votes Allah ki tarf say hain' [These votes are from Allah.]. Outraged by the unabashed dhandli, I asked why I had bothered to come and vote.

The ballot paper itself was disappointing because it didn't leave the vote confidential, the stamp showed right through the paper!! So the extremely biased polling agents and presiding officers knew our vote, and yes only one party seemed to be represented. I was leaving in disgust after I voted when they asked me to have my thumb marked, and one of the presiding officer cheekily remarked, 'Iin ko mat lagao, yeh tow wapas aa kar vote karain gee', ['Don't mark her thumb, she'll be back to vote again.']

I left saying 'nahin, aap daal deyna mairee taraf say'. ['No, you are welcome to vote on my behalf']

So even though, I am no political analyst or soothsayer, I can tell you that the 'Patang' will win in my constituency.

Volunteers are needed for two parallel activities - Electoral Monitoring and Mock polling with street theater - being organized by SAC Lahore today. Those interested please get in touch at 0332-4838139

Electoral monitoring at the end of which they will produce an independent report on electoral irregularities. A sub-committee of nine members was made for this purpose. Another team of SAC members will organize a camp outside the press club. Both activities are intended to compliment each other.

The target is for the final product of a report of no more than 20 pages that will document electoral irregularities as well as the impressions of various students about the electoral process of 2008. We hope that this will not only be an exercise in raising the awareness of other people, but will prove to be an educational experience about electoral processes (or lack of) in Pakistan.

The electoral monitoring team will focus on one constituency (with the exception of a few who will monitor and report back from their own cities, villages etc. ). We have decided to focus on the constituency of Monis Elahi.

All volunteers are to submit a one or two-page report that will be edited and put together as a twenty-page report of the SAC Lahore on the elections of 2008.

We solicit everyone to send us any information regarding irregularities in the upcoming elections.

Very briefly we will be looking for the following things.

Polling stations must be secure – only those who are voting should be allowed inside polling stations.

Presence of armed vigilantes – the presence of armed vigilantes of political parties especially outside of polling stations is a clear indication of an gross electoral irregularity. If you find someone openly brandishing arms take a photograph from relative safety.

Unfair use of public funds – the use of government funds to build support for an electoral candidate through development projects is considered an electoral irregularity by the EU.

Unfair use of private funds – public works such as gas connections, road repairs, or the laying of pipelines through private funds are also considered a violation of electoral procedures. Further, paying people for their vote (from public or private funds) is also considered an electoral violation.

Please visit the websites of Free And Fair Election Network (FAFEN), Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) and Election Commission of Pakistan to find out more about electoral procedures and our voting rights.

The only true education is self-education through self-experience. The activity of electoral monitoring is an opportunity for us to learn more about the claims and reality of electoral procedures in Pakistan.

Mock Polling and Street theater in front of Lahore High Court

SAC Lahore plans to organize mock polling and street theater in front of Lahore High Court on Election day. The objective of establishing this polling station is to hold a referendum on the legitimacy of Pervez Musharraf's presidency in a transparent manner. By creating a parallel election system, in effect an act of civil disobedience, we express our doubts about the legitimacy and the transparency of these elections. The objective of street theatre is to provoke us into a collective thinking about the rule of law in Pakistan and to encourage each other in resisting oppression and slavery.

We would appreciate volunteers to help us manage the station, including the tents, furniture, officers and agents, ballot boxes, ballot paper, and relevant literature. Or you may contribute to the street theatre group, which will stage-manage the short productions to be delivered regularly on Election Day.

We need help with:

1) Volunteers to man the booth

2) Setting up the booth in the morning

3) Distributing the flyers

4) Implementing any additional ideas that you may have

We would ideally like to keep the polling booth and theatre going till 5 pm, but this is heavily dependent upon volunteers